Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionWere it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.G— were it not that I dread the taunting of the enemy, lest their foes should misread it, lest they say, 'Our own hand prevailed — it was not YHWH who did all this.'
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G Message— but I held back because I feared the enemy's mockery, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, 'Our power did this; Yahweh had no part in it.'
BSB
Berean Standard Bibleif I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
Footnotes
The theological tension here is extraordinary: YHWH restrains His own judgment not because Israel deserves mercy but because the alternative reading — that the enemy's power exceeded YHWH's — would be a cosmic blasphemy. YHWH's reputation, His *shem* (Name), is at stake in history itself. This same logic underlies Moshe's intercession at the golden calf (Exod. 32:12) and Ezekiel's theology of the new covenant (Ezek. 36:22: 'not for your sake but for My holy Name's sake'). Both translations preserve this striking divine motive.
